Sherriff fire data from Lumpy Ridge , Colorado Front Range - IMPD USRS-015 Sherriff, R.L.; Veblen, T.T. Sherriff, R.L. Veblen, T.T. PIPO Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson ponderosa pine western yellow pine earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (age,null,null,year Common Era,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (sample identification,null,null,dimensionless,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,N,null) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history|tree ring (tree demographic and injury and fire event code,wood,null,dimensionless,null,fire history|tree ring,null,null,C,text description of fire event; refer to IMPD documentation for description of codes) earth science/paleoclimate/fire history earth science/paleoclimate/fire history (Lumpy Ridge - IMPD USRS-015>LATITUDE 40.409146>LONGITUDE -105.5479) Question: What is the relative importance of low- and high severity fires in shaping forest structure across the range of Pinus ponderosa in northern Colorado? Location: Colorado Front Range, USA. Methods: To assess severities of historic fires, 24 sites were sampled across an elevation range of 1800 to 2800 m for fire scars, tree establishment dates, tree mortality, and changes in tree-ring growth. Results: Below 1950 m, the high number of fire scars, scarcity of large post-fire cohorts, and lack of synchronous tree mortality or growth releases, indicate that historic fires were of low severity. In contrast, above 2200 m, fire severity was greater but frequency of widespread fires was substantially less. At 18 sites above 1950 m, 34 to 80% of the live trees date from establishment associated with the last moderate- to high severity fire. In these 18 sites, only 2 to 52% of the living trees pre-date these fires suggesting that fire severities prior to any effects of fire suppression were sufficient to kill many trees. Conclusions: These findings for the P. ponderosa zone above ca. 2200 m (i.e. most of the zone) contradict the widespread perception that fire exclusion, at least at the stand scale of tens to hundreds of hectares, has resulted in unnaturally high stand densities or in an atypical abundance of shade-tolerant species. At relatively mesic sites (e.g. higher elevation, north-facing), the historic fire regime consisted of a variable-severity regime, but forest structure was shaped primarily by severe fires rather than by surface fires. STUDY NOTES: This dataset was contributed as part of the Fire data from the Colorado Front Range 2014 research project (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/17194). Data were contributed to the project from the original data generators. Sample Storage Location: Dating Method: Crossdated Related ITRDB_Chronology: Not Applicable Fire scar data from this site are available in FHX2 format at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015.fhx along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015-noaa.txt Establishment date data from this site are available in CSV format at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015.dat along with associated metadata at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015-estab-noaa.txt NCEI-Paleoclimatology https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology - NOAA World Data Service for Paleoclimatology Investigator : Sherriff, R.L. Investigator : Veblen, T.T. 2014-09-24 ONLINE Files online, ASCII https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/37440 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015-estab-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015-estab-noaa.txt English https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/study/37440 https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015.fhx https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/firescar/northamerica/usrs-015-fhx-noaa.txt https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015.dat https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/establishment/northamerica/usrs-015-estab-noaa.txt Sherriff, R.L. and T.T. Veblen2006Ecological effects of changes in fire regimes in Pinus ponderosa ecosystems in the Colorado Front RangeJournal of Vegetation Science176705-71810.1111/j.1654-1103.2006.tb02494.x START YEAR: 1510 CE * END YEAR: 2002 CE -105.5479 40.409146 -105.5479 40.409146